Son of former Tasmanian allrounder Peter Faulkner, James is a capable allrounder, who made his way up through the Under-17 and Under-19 ranks. He was the captain of Tasmania's Under-17 squad, and was also a member of the state's Under-19 second squad. He was given a rookie contract in 2007-08. He was also a member of Australia's Under-19 World Cup squad in 2008.

A left-arm pacer and a right-handed batsman, Faulkner, is a handy cricketer particularly, in the shorter formats. His change of pace while bowling and key contributions with the bat makes him a useful package when it comes to T20 cricket. He was part of the Pune franchise in the IPL in the 2011 season, and made his international debut in the T20 game against India in February 2012.

During the 2013 IPL auctions, he was bought by Rajasthan for $400,000. He performed really well for them and was one of the reasons that they entered the knock-out stages. He was the second highest wicket-taker in the sixth edition of IPL with 28 wickets.

He won three consecutive Ricky Ponting Medals as Tasmania’s outstanding player in the First-Class arena which were capped by a championship-securing innings delivered amid dire circumstances in the 2012-13 Bupa Sheffield Shield Final. After delivering game-changing performances in the domestic circuit, he was selected for The 2013 Ashes in England and made his debut in the fifth Test.

All through 2013, Faulkner was a regular member of the Australian ODI team. In the third ODI against India, he hit an unbeaten 64 off 29 balls, including 30 runs off an Ishant Sharma over, to win the game for Australia. Faulkner got his maiden ODI century against India on 2nd November 2013 in Bengaluru. This is the fastest 100 by any Australian batsman, scored off 57 balls.

On January 17, 2014, he pulled off a stunning heist, where he helped Australia to a heart-stopping one-wicket victory against England at the Gabba with three balls to spare. He had only Clint McKay for company and 57 runs were still needed, but Faulkner turned down singles and backed himself to find the required boundaries, which he did with regularity in the end as he knocked off the final 25 runs needed in seven deliveries. He remained unbeaten on 69, which included five sixes, two of them in the penultimate over off Ben Stokes.

After a stupendous performance in IPL 2013, he was retained by Rajasthan for the 2014 edition of IPL. He was not an integral part of Australia's side in their 2014 T20 WC campaign because of a knee injury and played only one game in the tournament against West Indies. However, barring a few matches, he has played all ODIs for Australia since then. His batting lower down the order has come in handy for the Aussies and has earned the reputation of being a finisher, with his ability to hit the ball long and hard under pressure.

The presence of quality all-rounders in the Australian team allowed them immense depth to continually attack their opposition despite losing wickets as well as with the ball, and at the forefront of it was James Faulkner, who, while known for his late-order hitting skills, was the unlikely hero with the ball in the 2015 World Cup final. Faulkner struck twice in the opening Powerplay over to dismiss Ross Taylor and Corey Anderson to extinguish all hopes of a New Zealand fightback, and was named Man of the Match for his decisive spell of 3 for 36. Faulkner had already displayed his skills as a batsman and his 10 wickets in the tournament at an average under 20 highlighted his value in the limited-overs team as a front-line bowler as well.

Following the 2015 World Cup, Faulkner was found guilty for involving in a car crash after an overnight drinking session (in Manchester while playing for Lancashire) along with his fellow Australian Tim Paine. After acknowledging the seriousness of his actions, the Tasmanian was handed a 4-match (international) ban by Cricket Australia. Although Faulkner found it hard to find a place in the Test side, he continued to impress in the shorter versions of the game. In the 2016 T20 WC, Faulkner became the first Australian to have claimed a fifer in T20Is. Famously renowned as 'The Finisher', Faulkner was picked by Gujarat Lions during the 2016 IPL players mini-draft and was later retained for the 2017 season as well.